Mezgec ends this Giro in the same manner Kittel began it, with a dominant sprint finish. The Slovenian demonstrated a devastating acceleration in the final hundred metres, coming from far behind to squeeze through a small gap on the right hand side of the road, and passing Nizzolo and Farrar to reach the line first.

Trek had controlled the sprint before Sebastian Chavanel brought his teammate Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) to the fore. Roberto Ferrari (Lampre) was the first to open his sprint but faded before Mezgec’s final bust to the line.

Fourth place – along with a few extra points earned in the intermediate sprint – was enough to seal the points jersey for Bouhanni.

A small incline in the final circuit was enough to encourage multiple attacks from opportunists looking for one last chance to win a stage. Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF), Francesco Bogiorno (Bardiani-CSF) and Daniel Oss (BMC) were among those to have a go, but none of their attacks lasted more than a few minutes.

Earlier in the stage, Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin) and the race’s first pink jersey wearer Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge, one of their two riders still in the race) went out in the break, only to be caught less than hour later. Tuft later went out again with Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol), but the pair were caught during the first lap of Trieste.